Stand up Paddling? Yes, I hear you wondering what that is. I forget the name of the surfer, but I think he's married to Gabrielle Reese (? - used to be a pro volleyball player, I think) and he wanted to try something new. So you get up on this long and wide board and stand with your feet facing front. I found it's a lot easier to balance when you keep your knees slightly bent. Apparently that's called an athletic position. You know you are not an athlete when you have lived your entire life and not known there was even such a thing as an "athletic position", much less what it is...
Anyway - took a while to stand up. First, I had to learn how to paddle. Sounds simple, no? You stick in the paddle in the water and you pull. Well - kind of. It felt like I'd been paddling for hours, even though I knew that meant it was more like 10 minutes. Or so one hopes - looking back at the shore, I hadn't made it very far at all - slower than a slow walk, possibly around the same speed as a Galapagos tortoise.
Eventually got the hang of it - it helps if the whole paddle-y part of the paddle makes it into the water, apparently - then tried to stand up. Actually, there was a lot of sitting and kneeling while paddling, then the standing up. It's actually a lot harder than it looks and there were a couple of...hmmm, how to say this without sounding all girly and silly? Nope, no way to do it. They were actually little screams of dismay when a wave came under the board and I ended up running back and forth on the part where you're supposed to stand. Fell in a couple of times, but then...there's no way to describe what it feels like to see the water looking all silky and cleary as it rushes unter the board once you have a rythm going. It's even better than watching the bow of a boat cleaving through the waves because this is under your own power. Of course it hurts your arms like nothing else the next day - I spent the entire week after that recovering so didn't make it to any of my ballet classes.
It has also been a time of continuous birthday do-s. There was a dinner with friends, then a lunch, then various other things. What can I say - birthdays aren't good things when the numbers start to creep upwards but at least there's the consolation of lots of good food! Some people might say that's not sufficient consolation, but I just attribute that to them not being sufficiently food motivated. If I were a dog, my appetite would be Labrador - although the breed would be something else (since I am picky about what I put in my mouth). As for any of you who are mentally making bitchy jokes, I can hear you!
Eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping, cooking...did I mention eating? It has been a sun drenched and fun-filled holiday so far. I also finally got cooking, but that is a subject for another post - since I don't have photos of the food yet.
So until next time, happy (belated / early) birthdays to all!
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